Good Friday and the first night of Passover
Together again.
Continue reading →Category Archives: Religion
Immigration: the heart of the matter
One of the better s***hole essays is this one by Roger Kimball, which explores a slightly different territory than most: But sometimes, outrage is but a patina of indignation whose chief motive is incontinent delight. Which is it for the … Continue reading →
Terrorist attack in Sinai kills over 200
There’s been a terrible terrorist attack in Egypt: Egyptian state news agency MENA is reporting that the death toll from an attack on a mosque in the volatile northern Sinai Peninsula has risen to 235 people killed. The attack appeared … Continue reading →
Reflections: on witch trials
I was a strange child. When I was about ten or eleven years old I got hold of a book catalog for some mail-order house, right before Christmas. I’d never seen one before (this was way way before the internet … Continue reading →
On carrying guns in church: thou shalt not kill, or thou shalt not murder?
In today’s previous post, I began to tackle the question of whether the parishioners in the Texas church where yesterday’s mass murder took place were banned from carrying guns. In it I quoted the following rules in Texas: Churches in … Continue reading →
Known wolf from a known wolf den
Of interest: The NYPD had suspected New Jersey’s Masjid Omar Mosque, where jihadist Sayfullo Saipov reportedly worshipped, of having radical ties for over 10 years, allegedly keeping all its worshippers under watch. Moreover, the FBI, which claims it had nothing … Continue reading →
“We simply do not understand”
A little non-political item from the NY Post: The universe shouldn’t technically exist, according to top scientists who have spent their careers trying to figure out how the beginning of everything didn’t immediately destroy itself. I believe they actually mean … Continue reading →
Gun control changer
Leah Libresco, who used to write for the statistics site FiveThirtyEight (headed by Nate Silver), describes how the more she studied—in the mathematical, statistical sense—about gun-inflicted deaths and gun control, the more she changed her mind on the subject: Before … Continue reading →
Back to the Woodstock garden
Nope, I wasn’t at Woodstock—one of the only members of my generation who wasn’t, to hear most them tell it. And I don’t romanticize the 60s and look back on them nostalgically, although many people my age do. I think … Continue reading →
The war on statues…
…continues in the most unlikely of places. I say “unlikely” because one would think a Catholic school to be the last bastion for the defense of its Catholic statues. But then again, this particular Catholic school is in San Anselmo … Continue reading →
Praying for the president
It’s come to this: “Theological heresy” to pray for Trump? Wouldn’t it depend on what you prayed? I thought prayers were often on the order of prayers for guidance and wisdom. Wouldn’t that be an especially appropriate prayer for even … Continue reading →
ISIS Terrorist attack—in Iran
It’s a rare event in Iran. The terrorists seem to be ISIS, in a Sunni-Shi’ite struggle: Islamic State said five of its fighters carried out the twin attacks using assault rifles, grenades, and suicide vests. “The caliphate will not miss … Continue reading →